Tuesday, December 16, 2014

The most wonderful sound I've ever heard, is the sound of water running in the church

HELLO FAMILY!!

Well, this past week was crazy busy as always, but so wonderful!

Monday after pday we had dinner and a lesson with the Juarez family. We read about the tree of life in 1 Nephi 8, and we talked about how the world right now can relate so much to this dream that Lehi had in the Book of Mormon. We then ran by the Miranda Family and had a short quick lesson with them about the importance of prayer and doing family prayer. After that we raced over to Pedro's and we made his baptismal program!!! Woo hoo!! He is so nervous, but he is so prepared! We are so ready to see him make this covenant with the Lord.

Tuesday we planned to do service with Pedro, but it poured ALL day. Like flooding...it was ridiculous! haha. So instead we ate donuts and read a talk out of the April 2014 general conference Ensign. Later we stopped by a less active that just got back into town and we read with her in the Book of Mormon. Later that night we passed by some of our other less actives and we invited them to the creche festival and we ate some Chilean donuts, they tasted like scones! They were really good :) So yeah, there was so much rain that the streets were like rivers!! I was afraid our car was going to float away! haha, but it didn't! So we are happy about that!

Wednesday we got up and ready and headed to mission leadership council. It was really good! We learned about how we can use the simple tools we have to become better missionaries. And then we had a training on making covenants, and not just the big covenants when we are baptized, or get married, but those little promises we make with God. We know that God will ALWAYS come out on his end of the promise, we just need to keep our end. So we focused on making a covenant with God to have a baptism in each area each month and we learned how we can receive revelation on how to accomplish that! I got to see some missionaries before they go home that I served with in the beginning of my mission, so that was nice! Later that day I wasn't feeling super hot, so we stopped at home and I took a short nap. We then headed over to the church to help out with the relief society and making scarves! It was fun and I learned how to make a new kind of scarf :)

Thursday we planned for ZTM in the morning and then got ready for our exchange with Hermana Alzate and Hermana Christensen. I was with Hermana Christensen for the day and it was really fun!! Weird to think that 6 months ago we were switched positions. But she is awesome! We had all our appointments fall through, which was a bummer. But we got to contact and find some cool potentials. We also taught a couple less active lessons.

Friday we got Pedro all set up in his jumpsuit for his baptism and then we headed off to get ready for ZTM. ZTM was really good. We focused on becoming the missionary that the Lord needs us to be and then we gave a training on using the simple tools to becoming better. It was a spiritual ZTM :) For the rest of that day we were running around getting things ready for Pedro's baptism and inviting people and all that jazz. We then had a lesson with Pedro that night and we brought Abuelita hot chocolate :) and read in the gospel principles book about baptism. He said he was super nervous, but we just kept telling him that he is ready and that he will be perfectly fine!

Saturday we got up and got going, got programs copied and frosted the cake we made and headed to the church building to get everything set up! One of the best sounds you could ever hear on your mission is water running in the church (my subject line- aka it is from a song:)) It is such a great feeling to see and know someone who you have come to love make these promises with God and get baptized. The service was really nice, we didn't have as many people as we had hoped for, but we had a good crowd. President and Sister Wilson also came!! So funny story, ever since Pedro picked his date for getting baptized he had been joking about how he will touch the water with his toe and it'll be TOO cold so he won't want to get baptized...so Hermana Gutierrez is standing in the font and Pedro is about to go down the steps, he makes the sounds like he is walking into boiling water..! haha..it was funny! But then he got into the water, and he had to be dunked 3 times because he is a tall big man and the ward mission leader is shorter than Pedro...haha. BUT HE IS BAPTIZED!! We then ate some cake and then ran to do some security at the creche festival and then came back later with Pedro and walked through with him and enjoyed the christmas music.

Sunday was really good! Pedro got confirmed and it was one of the most amazing moments on my mission. After Pedro got confirmed he looked so peaceful and so happy. I know that the gospel gives us that peace and happiness. And to see someone that I have come to love accept and live the gospel, makes me the happiest person in the world. AHH!! Freak...I want to feel like that all the time! Well, I know I can every day, but too see someone get baptized is even more awesome! Also Maura and Rosaura came to church!! And all the Juarez boys took part in the sacrament! It was such a great feeling as well. We then did some planning and helped out a bit at the creche and then watched the Christmas Devotional. It was so amazing, and such a great way to remember to Savior during this Christmas season.

So that was our week!!

I am so grateful to be a missionary during this season. I love my Savior and am so grateful for His love and for His example.

If you haven't yet, please go and look up HE IS THE GIFT at christmas.mormon.org there is a video that just gives me the chills when I think about it! It is amazing and it really helps us focus on the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Have a wonderful week! And I will be looking for those packages, tell everyone in advance THANK YOU!! I will definitely feel loved on my birthday!

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Hermana Aase

I will be serving my mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the California Bakersfield Mission from January 2014 - July 2015. I'm 20 years old, and I attend BYU-Idaho. I'm so excited to start this new adventure in my life, and I'm grateful for this opportunity to serve the people of Bakersfield.